This invention relates generally to panel feeding systems and more particularly to a panel feeding and alignment system that operates to carry a predetermined number of stacked and aligned panels into a work station.
Panel products are manufactured within several different industries and these manufactured panels serve a variety of end uses. One such typical panel is the plywood panel which is comprised of a plurality of wood veneers bonded together that can be used for a variety of end uses such as roof sheathing, floor decking, concrete forms, and the like. In the typical plywood manufacturing plant single flat veneers, having been spread approximately with adhesive, are laid up into panel form and the thusly formed panels are then conveyed into a press system where the adhesive is cured.
Prior to the veneer layup process, the individual veneeers are roughly sized according to the desired dimension of the final panel. An exception may be the core veneer which can be of random width. Consequently, when the panels come from the press their overall plan dimension is roughly to size but must be trimmed to the final size.
In the plywood industry it is common practice to feed the panels after pressing through a trimming saw system in order to arrive at their final size which could be the typical 4 .times. 8 sheet of plywood. In the past the most commonly used system for trimming the plywood panels has been the well-known skinner saw where a feeding device would feed single panels through a skinner saw such that the two longer edges would be finally formed. One typical system employed a bin in which a plurality of generally horizontally disposed and uniformly stacked panels were placed. At least one powered roll at the bottom of the stack could be activated in proper sequence to feed a single panel off the bottom onto a conveyor which would then carry the panel through the skinner saws.
This particular system was production limited in that only a single panel was fed through the skinner saws at any one sequencing. Depending on the production capacity of the layup and press system at any given plywood facility, the total output of the plywood plant could be directly dependent upon the production capacity of the skinner saws. It thus became apparent that, if an apparatus and method could be devised for improving the production through the trimming system, overall production from the plywood plant could be increased.
Ideally it would be advantageous to modify generally existing apparatus in order to increase production. One obvious method of increasing production through the trimming system is to optimize the feed rate of individual panels. However, this particular method has already been essentially optimized in most plywood facilities with existing equipment. Another somewhat obvious method, yet one which had not been optimized or reduced to practice, is that of feeding at least two panels through the trimming system at a particular sequencing. Of course, if two panels can be fed through the skinner saws at one sequencing and at the same optimum feed rate as in the best known single panel systems, then production is essentially doubled through the trimming system.
Accordingly from the foregoing, one object of the present invention is to increase the rate of production through a panel work station.
Another object of the present invention is to feed two or more panels together from the bottom of a vertical stack of panels toward a work station.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an aligning function such that proper alignment is assured when the stack panels enter the work station.
Still a further object is to provide a feeding and aligning structure which is simple in design and efficient in operation.
Yet a further object is to design a structure for the intended purposes that can utilize selected existing machinery.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification in conjunction with the attached drawing.